David Matlin
Since David Matlin was hired as Director of Athletics in the spring of 2015, University of Hawai‘i Athletics has seen a complete transformation from facility upgrades, to legislative and university support, to academic success and athletic prowess.
Over the past five years, the UH’s athletic facilities have undergone a major facelift not seen in more than a decade. With the financial support of more than $35 million in capital improvement funds from the state legislature and community support, recent upgrades include the renovation of both practice gymnasiums; a new track surface for the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex; renovated locker rooms for men’s and women’s basketball and baseball teams; and court resurfacing for the Stan Sheriff Center and UH Tennis Complex to name a few with more on the way.
A former employee of UH Athletics, Matlin was hired on March 25, 2015 as the department’s 23rd Athletics Director. He holds an MBA from UH-Manoa’s Shidler College of Business. Prior to UH, Matlin was a local business leader with more than 20 years of sports management experience in Hawai’i, including 13 years with ESPN, seven as executive director managing the Hawai‘i Bowl football game and Diamond Head Classic basketball tournament. That experience allowed him to build relationships with NCAA conferences, athletic directors, and national organizations namely the Football Bowl Association, where he was one of nine members on the executive committee.
This is Matlin’s second stint at the UH Athletics Department after serving five years (1994-99), as an information officer primarily working with the ticket office, while also enrolled in the school’s MBA program. While working at UH, he was instrumental in developing and integrating information technology to assist with sales and distribution of individual, group and season tickets for all of department’s ticketed programs.
Matlin graduated from the University of Michigan in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts. Soon after graduating, he started his career as a marketing operations manager for the Houston Astros. After six years with the Astros, Matlin moved to San Antonio, Texas, where he was the assistant general manager/director of marketing of the Arts Center Enterprises and The Majestic Theatre.
Matlin became the vice-president of m2c and the director of operations for the Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl in 2002. He has also provided management consulting for Panda Travel, Sodexo, and AIO Group. He focused his efforts on business development and client training. In 2008, he created DAKM Enterprises, Inc. and was named the Executive Director of both the Hawai’i Bowl and later the Diamond Head Classic. Matlin is also the president of Value Travel Hawai‘i. Matlin is married to the former Dana Hatate and they have two children, Kisa and Ross.
